InnAccel bags license for production of device for nasal foreign body removal ‘Noxeno’

Nandita Vijay, Bengaluru, Tuesday, February 18, 2014, 08:00 Hrs [IST]

InnAccel, an innovation accelerator company has now a two-pronged venture. One is that it has bagged a license for technology transfer from the Biotech Consortium of India Limited (BCIL) for the production of ‘Noxeno’ a device for nasal foreign body removal. The second is the creation an ecosystem for medical technology entrepreneurs.

The company has said that it is well positioned to handle the two initiatives. Currently, there is no exclusive device to remove foreign bodies from the nasal tract and InnAccel anticipates a total investment of Rs.75 lakh to get Noxeno to the market. Stuffing foreign bodies in the nose is a global emerging problem and seen to reported frequently when kids are left unattended.

For the incubation centre, InnAccel is now identifying a 4,000 sq ft space to set up a central laboratory to design and validate the medical devices for the health technology start-ups. The company has also planned to scale up the facility over the next two years to around 25,000 sq. ft. It perceives the growing demand for such exclusive incubation centres with labs, shared equipment, office space, trained management team with proprietary product engineering and development platform.

This is the only way to spur innovation because we are enabling technology development, Siraj Dhanani, founder and CEO, InnAccel told Pharmabiz.

With regard to Noxeno, he said discussions were underway with a couple of partners for product development. It will take eight to nine months to manufacture and validate Noxeno followed by clinical evaluation and its launch. The plan is to make Noxeno available for the market within 18-24 months, he added.

The simple to use Noxeno could be handled by paramedics, nurses and general practitioners in clinics at rural and semi urban locations. It will be available at all primary healthcare centres in the country.

Noxeno was developed under the Stanford India Biodesign (SIB) Programme which is a Biomedical Technology Innovation project of the Department of Biotechnology. It was implemented at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi in collaboration with the Stanford University and in partnership with the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum. BCIL was the management agency for Intellectual Property and technology-transfer. The exclusive license to the patent of Noxeno is with BCIL and the Standford team.

The device was invented by Dr Jagdish Chaturvedi along with Siraj Bagwan, Dr Jonathan Pillai and Siddhartha Joshi during their fellowship in 2012. Dr Suresh Chandra Sharma and Dr Kapil Sikka from the department of ENT, AIIMS were the faculty for this invention.

Commenting on the need for an exclusive facility for med tech start-ups, the InnAccel chief pointed out that several benefits ensued from an advanced common infrastructure. In fact a dedicated laboratory-cum fabrication centre provides scores of med-technology startups an impetus for faster market access.

“We observed a missing link in terms of an all-inclusive infrastructure particularly for start-ups in the healthcare IT and mobile space to develop medical devices and portable diagnostic systems. The commercialization of a medical device or a health mobile application often necessitates months of fabrication, testing and validation which startups cannot afford. In order to demonstrate and prove that a novel product is fully viable to make a dent in a mature medical device market, by early stage medical technology companies, there is need for a comprehensive and easy to access an incubation facility,” he added.